US stocks opened mostly higher on Tuesday as investors weighed President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose fresh tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, with Federal Reserve minutes on deck.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) inched up roughly 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped about 0.4%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) lagged, dropping 0.3% back from its latest record as drugmaker Amgen (AMGN) tumbled.
Wall Street appeared to take Trump’s move in its stride, with stocks mostly holding onto the Bessent-bounce gains on Monday that lifted the Dow to a record high. Debate focused on Trump’s record as president of using policy threats as a negotiation starting point, then not fully delivering on them.
In a more predictable vein, the release of Fed minutes later on Tuesday will be scoured for clues to the depth and pace of interest rate cuts in the coming year. Several policymakers have flagged they’re expecting to move more slowly than previously planned. The minutes will set the stage for the October reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, on Wednesday.
On the crypto front, bitcoin (BTC-USD) retreated to trade around $92,840 per token as its bid for the $100,000 milestone ran out of juice, The biggest digital currency has notched its longest losing streak since Trump’s election win boosted optimism around crypto.
LIVE5 updates
29 mins ago
Consumer confidence rises to highest level since July 2023
American consumers continue to feel more upbeat about the outlook for the US economy.
The latest index reading from the Conference Board was 111.7, above the 109.6 seen in October, and the highest level in more than year. The expectations index, which is based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions, tick up 0.4 pints to 92.3, significantly above the threshold of 80 that typically signals recession ahead.
Less than 64% of respondents said they believe a US recession is “somewhat” or “very likely” in the next 12 months, marking lowest number of consumers fearing an incoming recession since the Conference Board began asking the question in July 2022.
“November’s increase was mainly driven by more positive consumer assessments of the present situation, particularly regarding the labor market,” said Dana M. Peterson, chief economist at The Conference Board. “Compared to October, consumers were also substantially more optimistic about future job availability, which reached its highest level in almost three years.”
In November, 33.4% of consumers said jobs were “plentiful” down from the 34.1% seen in October. But the number of respondents saying jobs were “hard to get” also fell to 15.2% from 17.6% seen the month prior.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) inched up roughly 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) jumped about 0.4% as investors weigh the latest tariff threat from President-elect Donald Trump.
Today at 2:27 PM UTC
Home price growth slowed in September
US home prices rose in September, but the pace of price increases moderated on an annual basis.
The S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index increased 3.9% from a year ago, a smaller increase from the 4.2% annual gain seen in August.
Prices rose 0.3% over the prior month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, unchanged from August’s monthly increase.
The index tracking home prices in the 20 largest metropolitan areas gained 0.2% in September from August, lower than a Bloomberg consensus estimate of 0.3% and August’’s 0.4%. The 20-city index jumped 4.6% compared to last September. August’s annual gain was 5.2%.
“Home price growth stalled in the third quarter, after a steady start to 2024,” Brian Luke, head of commodities, real & digital assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices, wrote in a press release. “The slight downtick could be attributed to technical factors as the seasonally adjusted figures boasted a 16th consecutive all-time high.”
Today at 1:15 PM UTC
Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.
Economic data: S&P CoreLogic 20-city (August); New home sales (October); Conference Board Consumer Confidence (November); Richmond Fed manufacturing index (November), FOMC Meeting Minutes (November meeting)
Earnings: Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Autodesk (ADSK), Best Buy (BBY), Burlington Stores (BURL), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Dell (DELL), HP (HPQ), Kohl’s (KSS), Manchester United (MANU), Urban Outfitters (URBN), Workday (WDAY)
Here are some of the biggest stories you may have missed overnight and early this morning:
Flash analysis: Another ugly quarter from Best Buy
Looking for some pre-holiday cheer?
Well, you won’t find any in earnings out of Best Buy (BBY) this morning!
A couple things that stood out:
I can’t say the report is surprising, given the discretionary category weakness we have seen in earnings reports this month from Walmart (WMT), Target (TGT), Home Depot (HD), and Lowe’s (LOW). But the declines for Best Buy suggest it will have a slog of a holiday season.
Yahoo Finance senior reporter Brooke DiPalma will have coverage on Best Buy throughout the morning, so stay plugged in here. Yahoo Finance Live will also be serving up analysis out of the gate at 9 a.m. ET today — which you can catch here.
